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Star witness becomes forgetful in ex-Va. gov's trial

RICHMOND, Va. — The government's star witness in the corruption trial of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell knew he had a problem when the FBI interviewed him — not because the FBI was knocking at his door but because agents asked him to wear a wire and record conversations with the governor and his wife, the wealthy businessman said Friday.

RICHMOND, Va. — After recounting numerous details of interactions with Virginia's governor and his family in more than a day on the stand, the government's star witness in Bob and Maureen McDonnell's federal corruption trial had trouble Friday with his memory as lawyers for the defense began questioning him.

Attacking the credibility of Jonnie Williams, former chief executive of Virginia-based Star Scientific, is key to the McDonnells' defense.

The couple has received more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from their generous friend, prosecutors say. In court, Williams initially called the relationship strictly business then later characterized it as a business friendship.

When the McDonnells' lawyers grilled Williams about his sessions with prosecutors, he often answered, "I don't remember" or "I don't recall," even about meetings as recently as Sunday. Yet he remembered every detail about a September 2011 phone call with McDonnell daughter Cailin Young who had found a car that she thought Williams would buy her.

"Some things in my life are more outstanding and important," Williams told Bill Burck, Maureen McDonnell's lawyer who grew impatient with his forgetfulness. "They're asking me a lot of questions. This young woman just asked me one."

Defense investigators unearthed more than 1,200 cellphone calls and text messages between Williams and Maureen McDonnell, some in the wee hours of the morning. In contrast, Williams and Bob McDonnell exchanged 60 texts and calls in the same period.

Williams acknowledged the frequent communication but didn't think the volume had been so high, saying that 95% dealt with promotion of his company including its nutritional supplement Anatabloc.

Email they just showed from Maureen to Jonnie on August 23, 2011 &quot;I just felt the EARTH MOVE AND I WASN&#39;T HAVING SEX!!!!&quot;

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake, the most intense in Virginia in more than a century, hit Aug. 23, 2011, 38 miles northwest of Richmond, Va.

Then Burck, who has said Maureen McDonnell had a crush on Williams, showed a playful e-mail that she sent him Aug. 23, 2013, after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit near Richmond: "I just felt the earth move and I wasn't having sex!!!!" she wrote, with the last seven words in capital letters.

Williams is married, and lawyers have said that he and Maureen McDonnell did not have an affair. Williams' wife, Celeste, has not come up in the defense's narrative though she is listed on both the McDonnells' and prosecution's witness lists.

Prosecutors say Williams' bankrolling of a $20,000 New York City shopping trip, a $50,000 loan to help out with the couple's financial problems in the real-estate downturn and a $15,000 wedding gift to Young for catering at her wedding reception was necessary to obtain the governor's endorsement for and state-financed research on Anatabloc. The governor's lawyers say Bob McDonnell promoted all Virginia businesses and the Anatabloc research that Williams had wanted never came to fruition.

Establishing quid pro quo — Latin for "something for something" — is necessary for the eight-man, four-woman jury to convict the McDonnells.

Williams knew he had a problem in a February 2013 meeting when the FBI asked him to wear a wire and record conversations with the governor and his wife, he said.

"At that point, my thoughts were, 'The governor could be in trouble and I could be, too,' " said Williams, 59, who had paid for golf gear, a shopping spree and trips inside and outside Virginia for the McDonnells, both 60, and their five children. He immediately stopped the meeting and called his lawyers.

More than 25 years ago, The Boston Globe reported that Securities and Exchange officials and regulators in several states had investigated at least three biotech start-ups that Williams was involved in. In one case, he had to pay almost $300,000 in penalties.

Williams had met at least once with the FBI agents and Virginia State Police officers in Florida at one of his homes in spring 2012. He talked to the investigators that day, he said, but much of what he told them was a lie.

"I was not truthful and told them I didn't receive anything" after giving so much to the couple, Williams said.

What really happened: "I loaned the money and I got the meetings" with one of McDonnell's Cabinet secretaries, he later said on the witness stand.

Before writing one $50,000 check and later wiring an additional $20,000 into the governor's personal account, Williams talked with Bob McDonnell about receiving Star Scientific stock that the governor might be able to borrow against. Both decided to scrap that idea because of SEC and Virginia disclosure requirements.

In opening statements, defense lawyers said Williams changed his story to government investigators nine times. Friday, they presented prosecutors' handwritten note from Sunday in another attempt to cast a doubt on Williams' credibility in jurors' minds: "Jonnie Williams did not want share transactions disclosed. There may be security law issues. Knows what he was doing was wrong. Not an attorney."

In exchange for Williams' testimony, federal officials eventually gave the entrepreneur immunity from prosecution stemming from his gifts and loans to the McDonnells and accusations in an unrelated securities investigation. Williams resigned from Star Scientific at the end of 2013 amid the securities probe, shareholder lawsuits and publicity from his dealings with the McDonnells.

On his way into the courthouse Friday, Bob McDonnell, whom Williams under oath has accused of accepting bribes, said he thought the real story would come out Friday.

"I've got tremendous lawyers," the former governor said. "I think cross examination is important, and I look forward to the truth coming out as cross examination continues on."